poo question (yay!)

[dknylady]

I have a question pretty much related to diet...

I have a big bunny (standard chinchilla?) and so, she poos alot. Now the thing is, a lot of the poos are connected with astrand of fur, and they hang off the wire on the bottom of the cage andi'm always having to get rid of them. As much as I love bunnypoo, I would love to get rid of this problem if possible.

Is this a diet issue, that she is not digesting the fur that is somehow getting in her mouth when she eats?

I feed her good food, a mixture of pellets (good ones from petsmart)and those mixed bags of dried carrots, nuts, peas, and pellets, etc.(she loves that stuff). she also gets plenty of hay (orchardgrass, a mixture of timothy and some other crap she loves)

I also give her half a carrot almost every day, and these little bunny treats that look like large green cheerios.

I also give her a saltine cracker a day (when i say 'cracker' she getsreally excited and tries to climb up her hutch to meet me, hehe)

She seems healthy.

any advice? Thanks!!!

 

[naturestee]

Is she molting right now? Or is shelike this shedding or not? Rabbits don't digest the fur thatthey swallow. It should get pushed through without beingvisible. My dwarf hotots sometimes get strung-together poopswhether or not they are shedding, but I've read that dwarf hotot GIsystems sometimes work poorly and that seems to be the case withthem. With yours, it could also mean that your rabbit needsmore fiber. How much fiber do your pellets have?Does he actually eat his hay?

I would personally cut down on the treats too, although they may or maynot be the source of your problem. Don't give her pelletsmixed with treats, or the treat mixes- those seeds and nuts are notonly fattening, but can alter the balance of the good bacteria in theintestines. Same goes for any packaged rabbit treat andcarbohydrate-loaded human food like crackers. Try feedingonly one small treat a day, or less. I feed treats a fewtimes a week at most, and my treats are usually rolled oats orraisins. That sounds like an awful lot of carrot,too. Half of a whole carrot? Mine sometimes get onebaby carrot, but not part of their regular diet.

Sorry if I sound picky, it just sounds like an awful lot of treats to me.

 

[Maureen Las]

Hi...Do you nean the poo looks likea strand of pearls or rosary beads? When my rabbits get that I knowthat they are passing the fur but it is a warning sign for thebeginning of GI stasis. If the "good" food is the "fancy rabbit food"with additional treats added it is not good for thebunny. He should have just plain pellets preferably timothy based butif you can't get that at least get the plain pellets. The orchard grassand timothy hay is fine as long as it is green and long..as for thepeas and nuts very bad for your rabbit as pieces of nuts canget caught in the GI tract and,like corn, peas are difficult for therabbit to pass. Carrots are OK but only in small amounts because theyare high in sugar...as a starter I would eliminate peas, nuts and thecracker and very slowly introduce greens to yourabbit (one veggie at atime to see how he tolerates it) and in small amounts ). This shouldintroduce more liquid and fiber to your bunnies diet. Most rabbits lovegreens. Safe veggies are ex. romaine ...romaine lettuce (noiceberg),endive, parsley, cilantro, kale (but only occassionally as itis high in calcium), carrot tops(green at the top of a bunch ofcarrots) and very small amounts of carrot. This should help alot. also I would cut out the dried carrot treats and other treats thatappeal to the owner rather than the rabbits health

 

[dknylady]

thanks!

i had no idea i was giving her too many treats.

ok so i will majorly cut down on the treats and the carrot. (i gave her so much b/c she is so large)

i give her a lot of hay and she does eat it all, but you are right, i think i do need to give her more greens.

thanks!

 

[dknylady]

oh sorry read it again and i neglected to answer a few questions...

well the main pellet food, which is the majority of her food, is mostlymade of timothy hay, and it's plain, so i think that should be fine.

I'll stop giving her a handful a day of that mixture stuff, i had noidea it wasn't good for her digestion, and i'll drop down to one treata day.

i think the rings are ok, because they are made of an alfalfa mixture i believe, and are small.

the poo isn't in a string exactly, it is just 2 poo pellets strungtogether with a fur, and this gets caught on the wire. this doesn'thappen with all her poos by any means, just several times a day.

thanks for the greens list. i will go to the farmers marketand get her some of those (even if i myself won't eat them, hehe).

oh and she is not molting. she did that a few months ago ibelieve..(where her fur changed colors). she does shedthough, i brush her every day but the fur still flys on my when i pether, and it especially likes to get in my eyes...

thanks!

 

[Maureen Las]

That sounds good! When I buy greensfor my six rabbits the cashiers say things like "You must be a goodcook!" or "Gee you sure eat healthy". Most of the time I say. "No..these are for my rabbits!".... Be sure and wash the greens reallygood to get the pesticide off and also I was just thinking that achinchilla rabbit probably has a different texture of fur than a shorthaired bunny and when it comes out it may just look furrier. Yourpellets are fine.